中國千年木乃伊與世界最古老奶酪大綱
Now that's vintage! World's oldest cheesediscovered on the chests of 3,500-year-old Chinese MUMMIES.
這才叫古老！3500年之久的中國木乃伊身上發現世界上最古老的奶酪。
Plenty of cheeses get better with age, butcrumbs discovered on the necks and chests of Chinese mummies are now thought tobe the world’s oldest vintage - although their taste may be questionable.
時間越久，奶酪的品質越好，但是中國木乃伊脖子和胸部上發現的奶酪屑被認爲是世界上最古老的奶酪——儘管其味道令人懷疑。
The cheese dates back to 1,615BC and wasessentially vacuum-packed with the bodies of the mysterious Bronze Age peoplewho were buried in the Taklamakan Desert, making it the oldest ever recovered.
該奶酪可追溯至公元前1615年，真空包裝在神祕的青銅時代的人物身上，被埋葬在塔克拉瑪干沙漠中，這是目前爲止發現的最古老的奶酪。
While the strange discovery was made in the1930s, scientists have only just analysed the proteins and fats in the clumpsof 3,600-year-old food to reveal its age and ascertain that it is not butter ormilk.
雖然發現於1930年代，科學家才只分析了這個塊狀物中的蛋白質和脂肪成分，才查明已有3600年之久，而且不是黃油或者牛奶。
Chemists at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology andGenetics found that the cheese is a lactose-free variety that was quick tomake.
德國普朗克分子細胞生物學與遺傳學學院的化學家發現這塊奶酪不含乳糖，而這種不含乳糖的奶酪可快速製成。
It might have been responsible forspreading dairy farming across Asia in the Bronze Age, the said.
所以他們認爲，青銅器時代的亞洲就是靠這種奶酪而大力發展了乳品業。
‘We not only identified the product as theearliest known cheese, but we also have direct evidence of ancient technology,’analytical chemist and study
author Andrej Shevchenkotold USA Today.
“我們不僅確定了這個奶酪是已知的歷史最悠久的奶酪，我們還獲得了古老技藝的直接證據，”分析化學家和研究作者Andrej Shevchenko對《今日美國》如是說。
The method of making the cheese was cheapand would have been used by common people, he said.
製作這種奶酪的方法很廉價，普通人可能都會做，他說。
The cheese survived because of the unusual conditions of River Cemetery NumberFive in the Takalamn Desert in north western China – the final resting place ofthe mummies.
這塊奶酪之所以可以保存下來，是由於塔克拉瑪干沙漠中五號河墓的特殊條件導致的——也就是這些木乃伊的安息之地。
They and the cheese were laid to rest onsand dunes near a river under large wooden boats wrapped so tightly in cow-hidethat the bodies were essentially vacuum-packed.
這些木乃伊和奶酪被放置在靠近一處河流的沙區上，被安放在大型的木船下，用牛皮緊緊包裹着，所以基本上屍體是真空包裝的。
